Asgard Saga
T he Asgard saga is an arc created originally for the "Knights of the Zodiac" anime. It is not found in the manga authored by Masami Kurumada. Plot Outline In the Asgard saga, one month after the fallout from the battle with the God of War Ares that had taken over Saga's body, the Great Ice Warriors are awakened by their guardian, Polaris Hilda, to try to take over the Sanctuary. Black Tiger Syd is dispatched and he defeats Aldebaran easily, proving the Great Warriors to be the Gold Knights' equal in raw power. Syd then travels to Japan to try to take the life of Princess Sienna, but Seiya and Shun engage him with their newly restored Cloths, flowing with the mystical fluids of the Golden Knights. The fight rages for a bit, but ultimately Syd flees when all five Bronze Knights show up. Confused, Princess Sienna confers with Lord Nobu on the rebuilt Planetarium and asks him what is happening. He says the kingdom of Asgard in the far off northern Europe continent is under the evil influence of a hidden enemy and as a result their leader Polaris Hilda wants to take the Sanctuary for herself. If she can't be stopped in time, the Ring of the Evil Prayer in her hand will melt the ice caps, drowning the Earth in water. The Bronze Knights make haste to Asgard, where they learn that they need to find the five Odin rubis to wake Hilda back to her senses, each of which granted the Great Warriors their powers and Warrior Cloths. Thundersnake Thor received the Strength ruby; Blue Wolf Fenrir received the Speed ruby; Green Horse Merak received the Fire ruby; Red Lyre Mueller received the Illusion ruby; Lime Skull Alberich received the Amethyst ruby; Black Tiger Syd received the Ice ruby, and Double Dragon Siegfried received the Storm ruby. With all seven ruby united, the legendary Odin Cloth is said to appear. The Great Warriors are defeated one by one, including White Tiger Buddy, Great Warrior X, who was Syd's long lost twin brother. However, as Siegfried seemed to be cornered by the unision of the powers of the Bronze Knights, a new class of enemy, the Ocean Rulers, appear, saying they manipulated Hilda all along to serve the whims of their master. The emissary is called Sprite Sorento. Siegfried, angered, gives his Storm ruby to Seiya and teleports to far away with Sorento. At long last, wearing the Odin Cloth and using the sacred Odin Sword, Seiya is able to dispell the curse of the Evil Prayer from Hilda and thus the ice caps cease melting. However, Athena is kidnapped at the eleventh hour by the God of the Seas Poseidon. Characters The Great Ice Warriors 'Thundersnake Thor, Great Warrior Gamma' Thor was a Robin Hood-esque figure who gave food to the poor in Asgard. The Strength ruby chose him when Hilda awakened the Great Warriors. He was also capable of cunning for when the Bronze Knights arrived to fight he surprised them all by wielding Axes. Seiya comments he heard Thor used hammers, but he deliberately chose a different set of weapons to take his enemies off their guard. After an intense fight, Seiya managed to hit Thor's Great Cloth and so the Strength ruby left him. He keeled over and resigned to restarting his ordinary life. Techniques: Titanic Thunder -''' releases a powerful blast of thunder. '''Blue Wolf Fenrir, Great Warrior Epsilon Fenrir was part of Asgard's royalty but he grew tired with his regal life and so at a young age he joined a pack of wolves to live free. The Speed ruby chose him when he was hunting with his pack to become the Great Warrior Epsilon. The Speed ruby also gave Fenrir the ability to speak with wolves, so he used them to fight Shiryu. At the end of the fight Shiryu attacked a frozen waterfall and Fenrir's pack dug him out before he drowned, but the Speed ruby abandoned him. Fenrir then disappears and no one knows what happened to him. Techniques: Hunting Fang - 'Fenrir attacks with a variation of the Pegasus Meteor Punch that releases many blows within a second. '''Hunting Fang Times Lightning -' Fenrir attacks at lightspeed with his Hunting Fang attack. '''Green Horse Hagen, Great Warrior Beta Hagen was in love with the beautiful Freya, sister to Hilda and head of Asgard ever since his infancy. He trained to acquire a deadly ice blow. Then he was choosen by the Fire ruby, making him the ultimate elemental warrior in Asgard. Hyoga had a hard time fighting him, but his Swan Trance Blast managed to topple Hagen and grant him the Fire ruby. Freya tended to him with Kiki's aid after that. Techniques Double Element Blaster - 'Hagen fires both fire and ice at once, using his Fire ruby. 'Red Lyre Mueller, Great Warrior Eta Mueller was trained by his father Volker to become one of the candidates to the mantle of the Great Warriors, but he preferred to study music. To show Mueller how much he meant this, Mueller signed up to the tournament of the candidates himself and challenged Mueller to a duel. If one of them won, they would never be able to see each other again per the tournament's rule, and if none of them won they would be cast off Asgard in shame forever. Volker clearly states to Mueller he has no intent of winning, leaving Mueller no chance but to defeat him lest they are both thrown out in misery. Both deeply regretted that day, and then Mueller received the Illusion ruby, allowing him to create multiple after images of himself. After batting Ikki and Shun, Mueller finally realized he wanted to see his father again and surrendered Ikki the Illusion ruby, leaving to meet his father and resume an ordinary life. Techniques Illusion Accord - 'Mueller creates many after image copies of himself. 'Lime Skull Alberich, Great Warrior Delta Said to be the smartest person in all of Asgard, he received the Amethyst ruby and he is cold and heartless. Marin fought him and he placed her in an Amethyst coffin. Seiya arrived later and they fought to a standstill, but Alberich ended up outsmarting Seiya and imprisoning him as well. Hyoga arrived later and realized they could break the coffins with the Libra sword, but Alberich caught him offguard too. Shiryu managed to defeat him by outsmarting Alberich's own plan. Proven not to be the smartest person in Asgard Alberich left the country in shame. Techniques Crystal Coffin -''' traps the opponent in an Amethyst coffin. 'Flame Sword -' a sword that has a friction rate so high it erupts into flames. 'Living Forest - '''the entire forest comes to Alberich's aid and hits his enemies. 'Black Tiger Syd, Great Warrior Zeta Syd was also the member of a royal family and lived a life of privilege. He eventually received the Ice ruby, and was dispatched to take care of Athena and her Knights. Despite using the cold air of his ruby to stop Shun's Andromeda Chain, Shun managed to use his Nebula Heater to dispell the ice and defeat Syd. But his ruby wasn't obtained so easily. Techniques Tiger Slash - 'Syd slashes many times at his opponent. '''Tiger Atom - '''Syd releases an atom of ice that is highly damaging to his opponents. 'White Tiger Buddy, Great Warrior X After Syd was defeated, Buddie, who was lingering in the shadows, received the Ice ruby, and replaced him as Great Warrior X. Buddy was the twin brother of Syd, who was cast away when they were newborns because of Asgardian superstitions. He remained in the shadows and befriended Mueller, whose fight he watched, so Ikki had a hard tim fighting him because he knew his moves. Eventually Ikki defeats him when he admits he would rather toss away his thrist for power in exchange for a loving family. He took Syd (who was knocked out) with him and left Asgard. Techniques Shadow Slash - 'Buddy slashes with his claws many times at his opponent. 'Double Dragon Siegfried, Great Warrior Alpha Siegfried was the head of Hilda's guard and so he naturally received the Storm ruby. He is headstrong and confident in his beliefs and the strongest of the Great Warriors. His Double Dragon Cloth is reinforced and his only weak point is a spot near his chest that didn't receive the mystical essence of an immortal dragon. With the help of Shiryu, Seiya manages to exploit the weak point to get Siegfried's ruby, but then Sprite Sorento shows up. Siegfried takes him away and teleports to far off light years asking Seiya and the Bronze Knights to save Hilda. Techniques Odin Circle - 'Siegfried makes a circle under the ground that explodes with violent energy. '''Blizzard of the Double Dragon -' Siegfried creates a power icy hurricane that sweeps any enemies away. Deity Representatives '''Polaris Hilda The leader of the Great Ice Warriors, she is actually a good natured person, but the Ring of the Evil Prayer was put on her finger by an unknown party. So begins the Great Battle between the Greece's Sanctuary and Europe's Asgard. Hilda has a sister called Freya who always looks after her, and that requested the aid of Athena's Knights, after contacting Lord Nobu on the Cyberspace through her own holographic room in Asgard where Hilda confers with Odin. Reception The Asgard arc proved to be the most popular arc in the "Knights of the Zodiac" run, however limited merchandise has been released concerning the arc. Although the japanese "Saint Cloth Myth" series saw a release of all eight Great Warriors, these haven't been localized Stateside branded as "far too pricy" by a CookieJar representative, leaving most of the merchandise of the characters restrained to the popular Asgard card game, which is the best seller of the KotZ decks to this day. Production-wise it left a lasting impact in the writer of the Saint Seiya spin-off'' "The Lost Canvas"'' Shiori Teshirogi, who claims she patterns her writing on the original Asgard arc. No comment from the localized Asgard arc has been given by Teshirogi to date.